yikes, hold on!

i am often asking v to slow down as we are passing someone on the road as it is often a crazy scene. as far as nutty scenes you see on motorbikes here, this is pretty tame. this little boy is awake actually. maybe he feels safer closing his eyes! they are easily going about 40mph! no helmet. no worries about the very high likelihood of hitting a gaping hole in the road in the form of a gigantic pothole!

since i have been here, i have seen 2 traffic accidents. can't believe i have not seen more.

the first occurred on my second day here. v and i took a trip out to rio san juan and cabrera. just as we got to rio san juan, we saw a woman hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street. this was directly in front of us. luckily the motorcycle was only moving about 15 miles per hour, but still she was hit by the motorcyle and toppled to the ground. we did not stop, as if you do, as the white people, you could very likely get tagged as having hit her. it feels terrible to just go on and not help, but such is life as a foreigner in a country where you are definitely not innocent before being proven guilty. this is true of both foreigners and dominicans.

(minor digression: i know that as an american, i take for granted the legal system that we have in the US. i often catch myself still assuming the types of rights i would have if something went wrong here, but then realize that is not the case here at all. say the roof of my apartment caves in because some stupid workman above does something he should not. normally you think, well, i would sue him, the company he works for, or the condo owner. well....WHO is he? he's some guy that makes $100/month. WHAT kind of money would he have to hand over to me? WHAT company? he's just some guy they found who says he knows how to rip out a kitchen. the owner of the condo lives in god knows what country and would never show up here for any kind of trial, if you ever even got to one.)

the second accident i have seen was a little boy about the same age as the one on this motorcyle in the picture. his dad was unsuccessful at maneuvering through the chaotic center of cabarete on his motorcycle, while holding the child at the front of the motorcyle. the child took a face plant into the pavement - no arms out at all. yikes!

i know that i have written several blog entries mentioning the horrendous driving habits and practices here, but it still always amazes me when i see a child like this in the photo, riding along on the front with no helmet and really nothing holding him on except his dad - who is using one of his arms to POINT AT THE CAMERA! hold on to the kid, man!

we know of two situations here where foreigners have run over dominicans who are STUPIDLY driving motorcycles at night with no headlights on the wrong side of the road. this sounds awful, but when that happens here, the first thing you do is head to the airport and get on a plane out of here. otherwise there is no way that it is not going to be your fault. you will be tossed in jail here and possibly not get out and/or have to pay EXORBITANT fees to support a family for life here. one of the guys we know that this happened to had to leave a bar business behind that he owned here. he just left everything. the other guy is actually a resident here and in very good standing in the community due to the businesses he owns here, so it ended up being OK for him, but costing him a lot of money.

i will continue to take photos like this where i can to document the appalling driving practices and habits here, as it will never cease to amaze me.